Murphy's Multiverse

Author: Joseph Aberl

  • Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ Heading to Strong $121M+ 4-Day Opening

    Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ Heading to Strong $121M+ 4-Day Opening

    It looks like The Little Mermaid is going to continue the box office performance of Disney’s live-action adaptations of their beloved animated classics. While the internet continues to groan about the existence of taking an iconic animated fair and trying to put a realistic lens over it (as much as possible, poor Flounder), it does seem like audiences are continuing to eat it up as much as they can. The film pulled in a mighty $30M on Saturday after a $38M on Friday (including previews), which is on par with the Aladdin adaptation and is on its path to a strong Memorial Day weekend.

    As of now, it seems that the film will pull in around $97M+ in three days and wrap up the four-day weekend at $121M+. It seems the film boasted an 80M-worth global promo partnership that makes it one of the biggest for a non-Lucasfilm or Marvel Cinematic Universe cooperation. After being quite absent throughout the early parts of the year, it seems families are finally going back to theaters. That A CinemaScore is definitely also doing its job for strong word-of-mouth.

    Fast X is losing quite a bit of speed, as it is dropping around 67% in its second 3-day weekend which would rival any of the previous Marvel entries from the previous years. That on a soft $67.5M hurts far more than any of the frontloaded Marvel movies and perhaps continues to showcase that the current superhero fatigue is likely more than meets the eye given Transformers‘ latest entry isn’t coming in as hot as one would hope for such a mega tentpole franchise.

    Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is still hanging in there with a strong 26.6M over the four-day weekend. That’s just a 36% drop and further highlights that it’s all about keeping fans coming back to theaters. While some will call this an exception to the rule, the film still opened softer and positive word-of-mouth will keep the genre kicking. If The Flash manages to pull in a strong audience, it’ll also carry over into November’s release of The Marvels and so forth.

    Overall though, counterprogramming for this week isn’t doing what it should do as Machine and About My Father are falling a bit short. They both highlight the issue that grew out of the pandemic’s streaming focus that hit big films as well with mixed word-of-mouth scores: there’s a strong distinction between “what I’ll watch in theaters” and “I’ll wait to check it out on streaming eventually” mentalities than ever before. Big thank you to Disney+’s 45-day release window and Warner Bros.’ day-and-date strategy for that.

    Source: Variety, Deadline

  • ‘The Witcher’ Seemingly Already Renewed for Season 5

    ‘The Witcher’ Seemingly Already Renewed for Season 5

    Many believed that The Witcher would not live long with the upcoming third season being the final one of Henry Cavill in the role of Gerald of Rivia. His departure was heavy considering Cavill was extremely passionate about playing the character and loved the source material. While he’s not set to spearhead his own project with a Warhammer 40K adaptation for Amazon, there have been various discussions behind the scenes on why he left the project.

    Supposedly, he didn’t quite see eye to eye with the franchise’s direction, which was deviating more and more from the original novel series. While it’s not uncommon that changes are made in adaptations, it started heading into more original content than an adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski’s work, as he even went on to sneak book moments in himself into the series.

    With him leaving, Liam Hemsworth is set to take over as Gerald and will take over starting Season 4. Surprisingly, it seems that we’re going to see a lot more of his Witcher with casting director Sophie Holland confirming they will be jumping straight into a fifth season once they finish the fourth one with him in the role.

    We’re just about to start filming on season four with Liam Hemsworth and there will be a short gap then we go straight into season five.

    Sophie Holland

    It’s surprising that the usual reserved Netflix isn’t going to wait and see what their audience size looks like once a new actor takes over. Perhaps, they fully believe in this project and the fifth season could be mapped out as a finale. They could run for quite some time and Netflix seems quite desperate to find a franchise that can carry momentum for a long time, but they keep floundering any chance by swiftly canceling projects that don’t perform to their high standards. We’ll have to see what they have in store beyond Cavill’s run with the character.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘The Little Mermaid’ Cast Shares What Makes Their Romance Stand Out From the Original

    ‘The Little Mermaid’ Cast Shares What Makes Their Romance Stand Out From the Original

    The Little Mermaid is set to continue Disney’s trend of bringing their beloved animated classics to a new generation in live-action. It’s not an easy task and while there have been many discussions on if it truly played out for the studio, there’s a lot of hope with the talents behind this project that it’ll stand out from what came before.

    During the official press conference for the Disney remake, Jonah Hauer-King, who plays Prince Eric, got a chance to share what he believes makes this version of the iconic romance between his character and Ariel stand out from the original. He highlights that it’s “friendship” and how they tackle what connects these characters rather than the love at first sight trope.

    Friendship, I think. Disney romances are always, you know, they’re filled with that instinctive attraction to one another. We all wanna see that. But I think what was fun about this, and I think a lot of it came from our off-screen selves as well, was looking at Ariel and Eric as two people who were kindred spirits. Who felt a little bit restless, who felt like they were behind the four walls of their respective castles, and were very much looking outwards and not in.

    Jonah Hauer-King

    It’s definitely a great move to add a bit more depth to their romance by having them share a common theme. Ariel’s journey is all about going beyond the world she knows, and having Eric reflect that on the surface adds a little something extra to give more insight into what connects them.

    And I think what was nice about that was that it meant that their relationship feels really earnt. They both felt like they were teaching each other things. They were excited and fascinated by each other’s worlds although they didn’t actually know it until the end.

    Jonah Hauer-King

    Of course, it’s one thing saying that this was their approach and something pushed further by their bond behind the scenes, the challenge will definitely be in how they showcase it for viewers. The Little Mermaid’s remake will be longer than the original and they might make use of that additional time to add a bit more depth to the story and just give them more time to share their experiences.

  • Summer Box Office May Be Slowing Down With ‘The Flash’ and ‘Elemental’s Soft Forecasts

    Summer Box Office May Be Slowing Down With ‘The Flash’ and ‘Elemental’s Soft Forecasts

    Here’s a surprise but it seems the summer tentpoles are showing quite a bit of a slowdown. The Little Mermaid is heading to a strong $120M+ opening weekend over Memorial Day, which puts it at $100M over three days. That is slightly behind the other Disney releases Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantmania but still a strong opening if the film has legs like the previous Guardians film.

    Yet, the rest of the box office is looking a little lukewarm so far. Fast X made a huge splash internationally but is slowing down quite a bit domestically at $67.5M. Even the return of the former box office champion isn’t really lighting up the box office’s engine with Transformers: Rise of the Beasts tracking for a soft $40M in early projection. Yet, it seems some other hopefuls aren’t showing that momentum many hoped for this year.

    The Flash is currently heading for $70M. It’s quite a bit lower than what Warner Bros. Discovery is banking on given that they used all of Shazam: Fury of the Gods‘ marketing budget on this film that they are pushing as “the best superhero film of all time.” The question remains if it’ll have strong word-of-mouth and legs afterward. If it offers what is promised, it does have a good chance but it’s still far from where you’d want your $250M+ film to open.

    There’s also the depressing development of Pixar’s box office due to the Disney+ releases throughout the last few years. Elemental is looking at a $40M similar to Transformers, which would put it on track with Onward and The Good Dinosaur but even Ratatouille managed to become a success with a soft $47M. They just need to hope that old momentum carries over.

    Source: Variety, Hollywood Reporter

  • New Website Domain Further Hints at ‘Persona 5’ Spinoff

    New Website Domain Further Hints at ‘Persona 5’ Spinoff

    The Persona rumor mill continues to go haywire after a recent leak claimed a Persona 5 spinoff is joining the already hinted Persona 6 and rumored Persona 3 Remake. It’s Persona everywhere for the next two years, but there’s still nothing concrete. Sony’s PlayStation Showcase was a no-show for the franchise but a new website listing may be hinting at something Persona-related happening after all.

    A new listing has been uncovered by Twitter user @MbKKssTBhz5, which is P5T.JP. The domain has just been created and fits the usual naming we see with anything Persona 5-related such as P5R for Persona 5 Royal, P5S for Persona 5 Strikers, and more. So, it would match the usual naming and adds more weight to the recent rumors of a potential spinoff.

    https://twitter.com/MbKKssTBhz5/status/1661196487215259648

    The question now is what exactly the domain’s “T” stands for. Some are hoping for a fighting spinoff like the Arena series from Persona 4, but it may also be a direct sequel similar to Strikers. Though, it might get confusing for fans of Royal given that the first official sequel to P5 is actually only for the vanilla game. So, we’ll have to see just how they are interested in expanding this part o the franchise and how it might stand out between a Persona 3 Remake and the long-awaited sixth entry.

    Source: Twitter, Persona Central

  • REPORT: Temuera Morrison to Return in ‘Ahsoka’ in Fan-Favorite Role

    REPORT: Temuera Morrison to Return in ‘Ahsoka’ in Fan-Favorite Role

    No, he’s sadly not going to play Boba Fett but Temuera Morrison will once again reprise his role as one of the many clones still out there in the vast galaxy in The Mandalorian spinoff series, Ahsoka. Though, this time around he’s going to be playing the fan-favorite character Captain Rex or also known as CT-7567 according to One Take News. There’s no word if Morrison is also going to play other clones, as they played a big role in Ahsoka Tano’s story throughout The Clone Wars and even Star Wars Rebels.

    Captain Rex is one of the more popular members as he was one of the few that didn’t fall victim to the Order 66 inhibitor chip. He even returned in Star Wars Rebels and The Bad Batch due to his popularity. Dee Bradley Baker had the pleasure of voicing the clones throughout the animated ventures, but it’s great to see Morrison get the many opportunities to play the characters he originally brought to life.

    He actually recently got the chance to play a veteran Clone, as he appears in Obi-Wan Kenobi for a brief cameo that highlights the fallout of the Clone Wars. At the time, many speculated if it might even be Rex down on his luck in a world that doesn’t need him anymore but it wouldn’t quite match what we saw of him during Rebels. For now, there’s no word if he’s in a flashback or the current day so we’ll have to wait and see once the series releases.

    Source: One Take News

  • ‘Mortal Kombat’ Sequel Finds its Kitana

    ‘Mortal Kombat’ Sequel Finds its Kitana

    Mortal Kombat‘s next film is finally revving up. Surprisingly, the film had one of the biggest releases on HBO Max during the day-and-date release strategy but somehow Warner Bros. has been quite hesitant about getting the next one into production. While the WGA strike is running, casting is still moving forward for the sequel with the latest addition Adeline Rudolph joining the production as Kitana.

    The actress actually starred opposite Tati Gabrielle in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, who is also going to appear in the film. They are the third addition after Karl Urban was recently confirmed to take the iconic role of Johnny Cage. While we might have to wait a bit longer until we see him with the tattoo of his first name across the chest, it’s still looking like Simon McQuoid is ready to start production on the sequel.

    2021’s Mortal Kombat wasn’t quite the faithful adaptation of the original games that people hoped it would be, but it still offered some of the fun charms. Fatalities weren’t kept a secret and it still tried to establish its own unique take on the lore of the original; though it was weird that the first Mortal Kombat film was more a prequel to the tournament of the same name. Still, we’ll see if the second one offers what the first couldn’t.

    Source: Hollywood Reporter

  • Melissa McCarthy Shares How She Brought Ursula to Life

    Melissa McCarthy Shares How She Brought Ursula to Life

    While all eyes are on the performance of Halle Bailey as Ariel, there’s a talented cast that has the challenge of bringing some iconic characters to life, especially the iconic songs that made The Little Mermaid what it was. Melissa McCarthy will be the one to bring us “Poor Unfortunate Souls” as the iconic Ursula. Some trailers have already teased her performance as the underwater witch, she got a chance to share the challenges of playing the character in live-action.

    Animation doesn’t have any restrictions on how a character is brought to life. So, you can much easier imagine someone with multiple limbs swimming around while singing. In the case of McCarthy, the actress had the challenge of constantly floating with a rig as revealed during the film’s official press event. She does share one funny moment that did happen the one time she touched anything while acting.

    I slipped on the clam shell occasionally, on my back, but I was never literally on my feet. We were either up in rigs or, you know, there were all different magical things. You know, if you were diving, it was one rig. If you were spinning, it was another. But no, never on the ground.

    Melissa McCarthy

    It must’ve been fun just hanging around from a rig while acting out your soul or even singing. She sadly doesn’t share what that was like, it’s still interesting to know just what kind of movie magic they used to ensure Ursula stays as true as possible to the original film from 1989.

  • New ‘Spider-Man 2’ Trailer Reveals First Look at Kraven the Hunter & Symbiote Spider-Man

    New ‘Spider-Man 2’ Trailer Reveals First Look at Kraven the Hunter & Symbiote Spider-Man

    The Sony Showcase ended on a high note with our first look at Spider-Man 2’s major villain: Kraven the Hunter. Interestingly enough, it also looks like the game unveiled Spider-Man rocking the symbiote suit. We only knew that Venom was going to feature, but it was uncertain if you actually get to use his powers and they will use it to have Peter Parker’s Spider-Man be different from Miles Morales.

    Also, they updated Miles’ suit to have a gliding function. So, we are seeing quite a few steps forward for the franchise. It’s uncertain if you can only switch between these two characters, as Mary Jane was also playable. The trailer also hinted at Lizard multiple times before unveiling him on the run from the duo. It seems the story will be built around the character and his struggle.

    It’s looking like an exciting new entry, and we’re already seeing the rage in Peter Parker. While the “Six Months Later” element may have misled us to believe this is how the game kicks off, the Kraven segment is very likely how the game opens. It’ll be interesting to see how switching between Spider-Mans will affect your overworld experience and if they have unique missions for each character.

    Source: YouTube

  • ‘Metal Gear Solid 3’ Remake Lives!

    ‘Metal Gear Solid 3’ Remake Lives!

    After being rumored for quite an extensive time, the confirmation has finally arrived for the remake of Metal Gear Solid 3. Surprisingly, it doesn’t have a new subtitle and the 3 has been replaced with a triangle. Still, it’s great to know that the story of Naked Snake will finally return in the modern era and hopefully, they didn’t leave any of the iconic elements behind.

    The game is confirmed as a multi-release and isn’t just available on PlayStation, but it’s definitely not a coincidence they were the ones to confirm its existence. It’s definitely exciting to see the franchise return even if Hideo Kojima is no longer involved due to his falling out with Konami, but perhaps he supported as a consultant on the project.

    Supposedly, the game will be titled Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, which may be their attempt to start building the franchise from one of its most popular entries, even if the jump from Naked to Solid Sanke might be jarring for those that aren’t that deep in the franchise. There’s also the question of how the original game’s mechanics would work in a modern game. So, here’s hoping the wait isn’t too long before we actually get some gameplay as well.

    Source: Twitter